This card also doubles as a reminder for the current challenge at The Mixed Media Card Challenge. This month’s theme is “home” and the optional element is “lace”. The theme is pretty broad — and as you can see from my card, the theme is reflected in the sentiment: “doors” and “walls” are associated with “home” :o)

Today we’re honoring the wonderful women of Paper Crafts & Scrapbooking Magazine. Over the years, Susan, Jennifer, Holly, Stacy, and Kerri have been providing paper crafters like me an incredible amount of inspiration through the magazine and blogs. The February 2015 issue of PC & S is, sadly, going to be the last, and so we say goodbye to an era through this special blog hop.

Compared to the cardmakers participating in this blog hop, I’m a newbie – with only 1 card published to my name: this birthday card I entered to the Stamping Royalty 2014 contest that won me an honorable mention back in March. I always thought that I’d have plenty of time to get around to responding to their submission calls when my schedule cleared up. Sadly, it seems I’ll forever be a PC & S newbie. What’s more sad, however, is that I’ve lost one of the best sources of paper crafting inspiration. I’ve been a subscriber of the magazine for about 3 years and I have every issue saved, and now with PC & S folding, those issues have become even more precious to me.

And so thank you, PC & S, from the bottom of my heart for being an important source of inspiration to me and thousands of paper crafters. I have met many wonderful and talented cardmakers through you. There will be a huge void in the paper crafting community when you finally shut your doors, and I’m not sure there is anything like you that would be able to fill that void. I will miss you dearly.

Hello! It’s my turn today to share a spotlight project the STAMPlorations blog. I made 4 mixed media Christmas cards. I used Distress paints, Distress inks, watercolor brush pens, PanPastels, washi tape, and drywall tape. Pop by the blog to see how I made this card and the other 3…I put together a photo tutorial here.

Back with another card — and this time it’s for The Mixed Media Card Challenge, where our theme this month is “HOME” and the optional element is “LACE”. I hope you’ll stop by the blog and check out the beautiful mixed media cards that the design team made. And we’d love it if you’d play with us too!

I did the background of my card using the same technique I did to create this card with some modifications. I stamped the newsprint in coffee archival ink then applied a thin layer of gesso. Then I painted stripes with Distress paints (mowed lawn, festive berries, mustard seed), added some splatters with Distress inks (blue sapphire), stamped the poinsettia, mixed Gelatos (gold champagne) with whipped spackle and applie it through a TCW reverse chicken wire stencils, and made the border by running the side of a green Japanese watercolor brush pen around the edges. I cut out the house, windows, and door from patterned paper and paper-pieced them. I stamped the Christmas tree in green archival ink on patterned paper and cut them out. I stamped the sentiment on scrap paper and swiped some peeled paint Distress ink over them. I adhered everything on my card with gel medium and I used a black marker to outline the house and trees.

Hello! Well, it’s been ages since I’ve posted! Chalk it up to a super-busy week last week with the Thanksgiving holiday. I’m now playing catch-up with my to-do list! I’m sharing a card today for the December challenge over at Mixed Media Mojo. This month, the theme is “Winter Holidays” with “Ornament” as the optional twist. I hope you’ll come check out what my teammates created and then join in on the fun :o)

I skipped the twist and went with a quick card. I created stripes and dots on my card base with Distress paints (mowed lawn, festive berries, and mustard seed). I splattered shabby shutters Distress ink and stamped the poinsettia in mustard seed Distress ink. For the border, I just used the side of my Japanese watercolor brush pen and ran it along the edges. I added drywall tape and torn patterned paper then dabbed them with a bit of PanPastels. I mixed silver Gelatos with modeling paste and applied that over a stencil. I adhered a piece of burlap ribbon then stamped the poinsettia again on pre-cut diecut and colored it with Chameleon Color Tones. Last, I stamped the sentiment in jet black archival ink.

My card’s also a reminder for the current challenge at Time Out Challenges. The current theme is “embossing” with the optional twist of sparkle. There’s still a couple of days left to play. Create a project with the twist and you’ll be in the running to win a stamp set from our sponsor, Avocado Arts.

Hello! I’m popping by with a quickie post to share a card while my vegan pumpkin pies are baking :o) I began by masking the upper third of my card base. I stamped the Christmas word block in Versamark ink all over the bottom then applied red PanPastel. I adhered a strip of metallic gold vellum and stamped the sentiment. On pre-cut diecut, I stamped the Christmas candles and colored them with Spectrum Noir markers then adhered them to my card using foam tape. And the card is done :o)

It’s time for a new sketch challenge at the STAMPlorations blog. It’s the last sketch challenge for the year and we’re making it a long one! The linky is open until December 28 and there’s no limit to how many times you can play. Oh, and we have a couple of extra special prizes too! Julie Beech of Crafted by Jules is our guest designer. I hope you’ll come check out the projects that Julie and the STAMPlorations girls made for the sketch!

For my one layer card, I stamped one of the trendy butterflies (new set!) and masked it before stamping the artsy sunflower and smaller butterfly. The sentiment is from Sugar Rush, the December/January stamp club set. I spattered a bit of mustard seed and faded jeans Distress inks and finished the card by running the side of my Japanese watercolor brush pen to create the artsy blue border. The card is rather bright for the season — and I did it because I was getting a little tired of the gloomy days and I needed something with bright, happy colors :o)